The full range of coloured gemstone laboratory reports and services supplied by the Bangkok's internationally renowned Asian Institute of Gemological Sciences (AIGS) is now accessible directly in Hong Kong, following an agreement reached between AIGS and Diamond Services Ltd. According to the agreement, Hong Kong-based Diamond Services will operate a drop-off window on AIGS's behalf at its headquarters in Central, via which members of the trade operating in Hong Kong can submit both loose and jewellery-mounted coloured gemstones to AIGS for testing, analysis and grading. The service will begin operating already this month, and the turnabout time for submitted gemstones and jewellery will be five to seven business days.

Founded in 1978 in Bangkok, AIGS grew to include South East Asia's first gemmological training institute and a leading gem laboratory, the first such body internationally to introduce Raman spectrophotometer technology for its gemstone reports. It offers a range of coloured gemstone reports, including credit-card-sized Brief Reports, Full and Premium gem identification reports, and Master Gemstone Reports, apart from amethyst-citrine natural/synthetic testing and jadeite impregnation testing.

Diamond Services was established in 2012 in Hong Kong as a developer and provider of gemmological services and technology. The company first introduced the DiamaPen®, a hand-held laser device that is able to detect fancy colour synthetic diamonds, and in 2014 it introduced DiamaTest®, an innovative system that screens both loose and colourless diamonds for synthetics, for which it won the prestigious JNA 2014 Award.

"This is a most important milestone from our perspective," said Kennedy Ho, AIGS's CEO. "Hong Kong serves as a primary gateway into the world's fastest growing market for coloured gemstones, and the provision of quality gemmological services is absolutely critical to its development.”

"We are delighted to be joining forces with AIGS," said Joseph Kuzi, the founder and Managing Director of Diamond Services Ltd. "There are few coloured gemstone organizations with its wealth of knowledge, experience and integrity and we are privileged to be able to extend that to Hong Kong, China and beyond."